Cult of Raloth:
Origins The cult of Raloth is an ancient religion. Its origins are unknown to its believers. The only holy place known to its believers is the Realm of the Gods, where it is said the gods lived when they dwelled on earth. But no believer has entered the Realm of the Gods aside from the high chiefs of Karanda since Kar the conqueror united the constantly warring tribes. But the cult of Raloth is much older than the Karandan nation, it was practiced by the separate tribes for generations before its creation. Belief Even though the Cult's origins are unknown a creation story still survives. Unfortunately the creation story is jealously guarded secret of the priest hood of Raloth, even the high chief of Karanda does not know of the possibility that there is knowledge of such a story. In Karanda the written word has, for the majority of their history been considered a complete waste of time, because of this it is very hard to find any reference to the existence of a creation story. When Kar the conqueror first took power however he did torture what priests he could get his hands on for the truth of the matter. The documents written by his slaves that functioned as scribes only had this to say. '' "The king of Karanda and high chieftain of the tribes has subdued the 'Melraki. After his glorious victory he had his war bands round up as many priests of Raloth as possible deciding to punish them for their continued defiance of his rule. The night before the king was going to have them beaten to death he ordered their highest officials to his tent. There were seven of them. The king was silent for a time and after a tense silence had built up he asked them 'why we were here'. They responded with a smattering of replies but the king roared in righteous anger. Once they were silent he gestured more broadly and asked again. To this they responded, 'to serve Raloth and his angels'.The king nodded once then asked 'How did we get here?'. To this the priests responded in silence. Their continued silence was met with beatings and other torture, the King in his great wisdom even had two of the priests kill each other. In the end the only answer was given as the high priest died. With his last breath he said 'Waves of steel, warmth of the sun, war of the Locarii. Raloth give us strength.'' ' The king was not pleased."' '' ''The Cult of Raloth is unique in the sense that its followers do not acknowledge that Raloth is the one true god. Up until their contact with the Osuman caliphate they have never come into contact with any belief systems different than their own. Confronted with a different religion than their own most Karandans simply write the issue off. As the high priest Vargr Ulbath put it "If your god was here he would make himself known to us, instead of hiding his face like a coward."